Microsoft this weekend published four new commercials for its Windows 10 operating system that showcase things “Macs can’t do”. The ads feature Kristie and Jess, AKA The Bug Chicks, the two women who are apparently trying to change the way kids think about bugs.

The two characters, one of whom is a Mac fan jealous of Windows 10 features, explore competitive advantages of Microsoft’s operating system like the built-in Cortana personal assistant, support for inking and drawing on notebooks with built-in touchscreens, the ability to log in to Windows 10 with one’s face and more.

As each Windows 10 feature is highlighted, the other woman responds with a variation of the “I don’t have a touchscreen on my Mac, I’m jealous of that” theme.

Here are the ads.

Meet The Bug Chicks

Windows 10 and Inking

Windows 10 and Cortana

Windows 10 and Hello

To be sure, Cortana is available on OS X if you install Parallels Desktop to run Windows 10 natively on a Mac, which will also let you use Cortana across both Mac and Windows.

As for the inking features, Apple could make a touchscreen Mac with built-in support for the Apple Pencil, but I’m not counting on that. Company executives have said multiple times that it wouldn’t make sense to add touchscreen input to a notebook or a desktop because lifting your finger to touch the screen would lead to the gorilla arm syndrome.

As for the face-detection feature, I don’t think that’s something people would want to use on a daily basis as a replacement for the traditional password-based login. Face detection is imperfect, it’s not instantaneous and it might serve as a new attack vector on users’ privacy.

A far better solution, in my personal opinion, would be if Apple allowed users to log in to their Mac with Touch ID verification on their iPhone (there’s an app for that, actually, and it’s called MacID).

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Microsoft and Windows pc/laptop re-sellers Have been seeing Windows laptop sales decline for a long time now. Mac sales on the other hand have been increasing. Its no wonder Microsoft wants their piece of the pie back and this is the way they are going about it.

TechnoBuff

That is a very unfair and unscientific comparison, Just as comparing Android to IOS. MAC to HP or MAC to Dell is a more reasonable comparison.
In as much as windows sales is declining, it still dwarfs Mac sales on a scale of 8 to 2.

Shinonuke

Well in that case would a comparison between operating system better for you? I mean, you can compare brands to brands and computers to computers and laptops to laptops… I think the bottom line is which is more profitable. I don’t know the values and I don’t have the drive to look for it but knowing the figures can make an interesting read.

Sarchasm

No it doesn’t, it’s more on the scale of four to one.

Martynet

Windows definitely has more bugs 😀

Joshua The-Legend Wiebe

No pun intended?

TechnoBuff

With the number of bugs in OSX lately, i dont think saying windows has more bugs carries any weight.
My Mac Ethernet port was off commission over the last few days.

Sarchasm

Your inability to keep your hardware functioning correctly after you take it out of the shop is not a bug.

It being out of commission ‘over the last few days’ says to me, a computer support tech of over forty years, that it’s user error.

Tamer

Nonsense!
Who needs a 13,15, 19 or even 27 Inches tablet with a physical keyboard and heavy battery and multiple components!?

Gerardo Castro

Who needs a 13 inch tablet? Tell that to Apple. (iPad Pro)

Tamer

For that I’ll never buy it..

Sarchasm

Real estate agents, graphic designers, architects, me.

tariq

No matter how hard they try, Macs just simply can’t be beat. And who touches their laptop screen? Mouse is more accurate than your fingers.
And Windows touchscreen is just as useful as the 3rd touch on 6s lol (my opinion)

JoJo

One year ago I would have said exactly the same thing. However, since I’ve had to work with Windows 10 and a touchscreen laptop for work I’ve gotten quite accustomed to the touch screen. Its not anything groundbreaking or something that I would greatly miss, however I do find myself reaching for the screen on my Macbook at times. In some situations having a touchscreen on a laptop can be useful.

brian.

Agree. Having a touch screen is very useful. It’s a matter of time before it’s on the Mac, but I hope they optimize it better than Windows does. Sometimes those touch-targets are just almost impossible.

Also, I love the Surface Pen. Great for OneNote, specifically. Just draw the diagram that’s being presented at a meeting, or show someone a concept on the fly. Good stuff.

brian.

This is very true. There is a price to be paid though. Focusing on just the screen on a Mac, for a moment, is a good indicator of some of the screens some hardware companies make. They’re just bad in comparison.

I have a surface, and that’s a is quality screen, but again, you do pay for what you get for.

Bob Smith

The face detection works pretty well actually. It’s pretty much instant

N&LH

in ads only… sucks in reality

JoJo

Microsoft is real happy with all your data, and now they can even connect a face to it. :’)

White Michael Jackson

So is Apple.

JoJo

Yeah… no.

TechnoBuff

keep up with that ignorance..

JoJo

You know what else my Mac doesn’t do? Upload everything I do to Microsoft. I’ll stick to OSX, thank you.

brian.

Man, this is great. I sure do love using my mac to run Windows when I need to…

But honestly, there are a few things about these adds, and I’m sure they’re not really going to convert anyone, that make some good points. Otherwise, it’s just a bit vapid.

After watching these commercials I think I should get Windows 10! My gaming laptop can’t do touch screen input or use a stylus and the last major OS update broke the drivers for the built in microphone so I can’t talk to it either. Oh I forgot, I am using Windows 10 on it. I guess they should either change the logo to that of the Surface or update the slogan to (Windows 10, only as crippled as the PC you run it on)?

All in all, I did like them though. I just think they needed to point out that this isn’t a windows 10 feature as much as a set of hardware features to avoid false advertisement claims.

Just my thoughts,
-Cheers!

Fardeen Beharry

windows 10 face recognition uses a special infra red camera that can’t be easily bypassed with someone’s photo for example, windows hello is pretty smart about it and its not the old face detection that can easily be bypassed

Shinonuke

That idea sounds good for business sector that requires a higher level of security. Provide something that’s useful and convenient that help sway buyers to spend money on. Maybe they can power up a built in anti virus or security in a way that users do have to go spend more money on something that slows down the computer. Or make Windows efficient that last many years without causing system slowdown or fragmentation.

iPhoneWINS

yeah for 2 months then they slow down and suck

D R

Don’t forget to make ads showing how Apple fails to show ads on the login screen, or how Apple fails to force sending what you are doing on your computer to home base like Microsoft does.

Sarchasm

I use an ipad, an iPhone, a MacBook, a high-powered i7 Windows 10 laptop, and a bunch of Windows Servers every single day. I never use Cortana, it’s shite. I never find the need to touch my MacBook screen, that’s why I have a high-resolution digitising tablet. When I get home, I never reach for the Windows laptop unless it’s the very, very rare occasion that I have to run an app that doesn’t work on OS X. I have virtualbox, if I wanted to run Windows on my MacBook, but there are no Windows virtual machines on there, just Linux.

I don’t have any inherent MS v Apple bias – its horses for courses and I have used both since the early eighties. But, MS has done very little to attract me as a consumer over the years, except copying, usually poorly, new features made popular by Apple. My bias is all about who makes my life easier, who needs less of my time to keep running smoothly.

Their sophomoric taunt of ‘Apple can’t do that’ doesn’t attract me in the least, if anything it reinforces what Apple does better. A better OS, easier to install, backup and restore, easier to support, easier to install apps on, easier to sync content across multiple devices and platforms, easier to link hardware, easier to develop software on and for.

While MS keeps developing based on NT, you are always going to be dealt no with a pig wears no lipstick. If they really wanted to attract consumers, dump that old kludge and really develop a New Technology. Until then, you are always going to be Biff to Apple’s Marty. Bigger, more menacing, but slow and stupid.